Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Tough Faith for Tough Times

Times are tough: the economy is shaky, and so is global security. Nevertheless, we have it easy compared with what former generations endured. My parents, older brother, and I left Scotland and settled in Canada in 1939. World War II broke out that same year and plunged the UK into unparalleled insecurity, deprivation, and sacrifice. Later, the bombing of Pearl Harbor drew the U.S. into the war, and Americans endured shortages of food, household supplies, and gasoline. But none of those hardships compared with the untold suffering and loss of life our military men and women experienced.

Allied nations accepted personal sacrifice as a necessary part of winning the war and securing the freedom of all who valued liberty and the opportunity to pursue life's highest goals. I was a kid during the war years, and my heroes were not rock stars. They were leaders like Winston Churchill, FDR, King George VI, and military commanders. Words like, "We will never surrender," elevated the free world above the immediate hardships and focused our attention on victory. I am glad I lived to see that indomitable spirit carry brave men and women to victory.

My dad seldom spoke about the personal struggles he faced growing up in Scotland. His father, my grandfather, was killed in a coal mine explosion at age 44. Dad was just 13 then, and a fledgling coal miner at that young age. Sometimes, when I complained about my lot in life as a teenager, Dad would say, "If we hadn't left Scotland, you'd be lying on your back in a coal shaft, and you'd be picking away at coal." I got the message.

These are not days for the timid. But believers have no reason to be timid, because "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7). Sure, we may tremble on the Rock occasionally, but the Rock never trembles under us. When the world seems to be on the verge of shipwreck, like Paul, we can stand strong and declare, "Take heart . . I believe God" (Acts 27:25).